Survey finds entrepreneurs increasingly optimistic

The Alexandria-based Entrepreneurs’ Organization says a recent survey of entrepreneurs around the world finds they increasingly are more optimistic about their business environment.

The organization’s twice yearly Global Entrepreneur Indicator research project asked business owners about their work force, profits, debt loads, access to capital, predictions about the economy and willingness to start a new businesses.

The survey, conducted in June, ended with a sample of more than 2,200 entrepreneurs around the world. Their businesses average $18.3 million in annual revenue and 192 employees.
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The survey found that entrepreneurs are hiring at a much faster pace than a couple years ago.
• 59 percent of respondents reported net increases to their number of full-time employees during the six months preceding the survey, compared with only 42 percent claim two years ago.
• 62 percent of respondents expect to increase their number of full-time employees in the coming six months.
• Regionally, Latin America/Caribbean and the United States created jobs at the highest rate during the past six months (66 percent and 60 percent, respectively).

Entrepreneurs are more positive about the current business environment than they have been in years.
• Less than a quarter (23 percent) of respondents expect economic conditions to worsen in the coming six months, a substantially lower figure than six months ago (38 percent). In the current survey, 33 percent of business owners expect economic improvement and 44 percent believe conditions will hold steady.
• 90 percent of respondents said that access to capital either improved or held steady during the previous six months, with nearly a third (31 percent) reporting that it became easier.
• 80 percent of respondents globally reported that they would be willing to start a new business right now. That figure is up from 63 percent six months ago, and is the highest figure reported since June 2010.

Th e Entrepreneurs’ Organization, founded in 1987, is a global network of more than 8,700 business owners in 35 countries.